Technical Field
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a non-transitory recording medium storing an information processing program.
Background Art
Generally, printer drivers convert data received from application into a data format compatible with a printer and transfers a converted file to the printer. Some of recent computerizing drivers convert data received from application into an image file format that enables browsing by information processing devices such as personal computers (PCs) and tablet devices etc.
Examples of such image file formats are Portable Document Format (PDF), XML Paper Specification (XPS), Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), and Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), etc. Devices compatible with those data formats may handle the converted data having the above-described data formats as image files.
In addition, a technology of virtualizing drivers is known. The virtualizing drivers convert data received from application into an intermediate file using a data format such as Enhanced Meta File (EMF) etc. Subsequently, the virtualizing drivers transfer the converted intermediate file to a printer that forms an image on a recording medium such as recording paper etc. Printer drivers that actually perform printing convert the intermediate file into a data format that the printer can perform printing.
In this case, destinations where the virtualizing drivers transfer the intermediate file are not limited to printer drivers that convert the intermediate file into the image data to be printed. For example, the virtualizing driver may transfer the intermediate file to the computerizing driver to command the computerizing driver to generate a computerized file.
In a known technology, after a mail server receives e-mail attached with a computerized file from an information processing apparatus, the computerized file is stored in an image forming apparatus. Subsequently, the mail server transfers e-mail including URL specifying the image forming apparatus storing the computerized file to an information device as a destination of the e-mail. The information device as the destination requests the image forming apparatus storing the computerized file to print the computerized file.
This eliminates a need for selecting a printer driver to be used for a specific image forming apparatus as a destination of e-mail by user operation on the information processing apparatus as a source of the e-mail.